Sunday, May 22, 2016

Slaughter Hotel (1971) and Corpse Mania (1981)

To make up for lost times (I have a life beyond writing reviews hardly anyone reads), here are two quick reviews for entries in the Giallo genre. However, they come from two different countries-the genres country of origin (Italy) and one from China.

First off is "Slaughter Hotel", which comes from Fernando Di Leo, who is largely known for helping to popularize the Italian "poliziotteschi" (police) genre. Here, he dips his toes into horror territory with the tale of a psychiatric ward for rich women. Lo and behold, since this is a giallo movie, there is a killer knocking some of them off, and usually after sex. Also, there is a lot of sex, as this at times feels more like a soft core porn movie that sometimes borders on hardcore territory (including close ups of open female genitalia. It seems they knew what crowd they were catering to.)

Whilst a fun time on paper, "Slaughter Hotel turns out to be a chore to sit through. Whilst I have no problem with sex and female nudity (quite the opposite in fact), this tends to go the Jess Franco route of making female nudity dull with a seemingly endless stream of uninvolved sex scenes and writhing around on beds. The kills are mediocre, and worst of all the movie lacks anything resembling atmosphere or suspense. This is especially shocking considering that Di Leo's later films (such as "Caliber 9" and "The Italian Connection") are bursting with fun. There's nothing like that here.

On a much better note is "Corpse Mania", which was produced by the Shaw Brothers (yes, they produced more than just Kung-Fu movies) and directed by Chih-Hung Kuieh*. Here, the police are after a madman who has been killing women at a local brothel (as well as those who get in the way.) Also, the killer may have a thing for corpses, as we see in one really disgusting scene.

Though you know who the killer is from the get go, "Corpse Mania" is a solid little movie filled with at times realistic (and nauseating) gore, good direction and a story that manages to keep the viewer engaged throughout it's short run time. It also manages to wear it's influences on it's sleeve (the killer's look brought to mind a mix of "The Invisible Man" and "Blood and Black Lace", whilst some of the kills and gore reminded me of the then rising slasher genre) without feeling derivative. Oh, and maybe it's just me, but it was kind of refreshing to see a giallo movie that didn't offer an endless series of red herrings for a change.

As a whole, "Slaughter Hotel" is a sleazy but ultimately dull film that made me want to watch superior fare such as "Torso" and "Strip Nude For Your Killer." "Corpse Mania" on the other hand, is an seriously underrated film that deserves a bigger cult following, and might please fans of Toshiharu Ikeda's "Evil Dead Trap."

About Me

A Wright State University Graduate, Joseph Howell has been an avid horror fan since he was seven or eight years old-he has Godzilla movies to thank for that. He's now devoted some of his time to watching (and at times suffering through) horror and exploitation fair to review for your reading pleasure. Oh, and he loves Cherry Coke Zero, and he recommends eating popcorn while watching older genre movies.